Darwin Road Funding Delayed

The Member for Solomon, David Tollner today noted that the federal ALP has offered a financial commitment to Tiger Brennan, and added that they're a little bit late in doing so.

"Unlike Labor, I can personally assure the people of Darwin and Palmerston that, having secured the original funding for Tiger Brennan Drive, the further monies now required for the project will come from the federal AusLink 2 road funding package for the Territory,” Mr Tollner said.

"I have lobbied both Federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile and Roads Minister Jim Lloyd to secure this and they are both personally aware of the importance of this vital link.”

"The Howard Government, after all, has had their money on the table since 2004 which is still available now and which the NT Government has still not spent.”

"I also note that federal ALP is silent about the incompetence of their NT Government mates that led to a cost blow-out from $27.3 million to $64 million, without any work having started.”

"Perhaps the federal ALP did not think it was an important enough issue for them to say anything about before – or maybe they just stayed silent to protect their incompetent NT Government mates.”
"At the moment the onus is currently on the NT Government to get moving and provide the detailed plans and costings the Federal Government has been requesting. We asked for them months ago and Labor still hasn't provided them,” Mr Tollner said.

The Howard Government has its money on the table just waiting on the NT Government to get their act together.

2007-05-17